Ewan McGregor finds African trek oddly peaceful

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actors Ewan McGregor and Charley
Boorman braved the specter of armed kidnappers and fierce
hyenas when they set out on a motorcycle journey in Africa but
what they encountered was quite different: little violence and
curious kids.

A documentary film, "Long Way Down," which shows just how
peaceful their journey was, will enjoy a brief run in theaters
starting on Thursday, then appear on television on the Fox
Reality Channel beginning on Saturday.

McGregor, 37, star of the recent "Star Wars" movies, said
the documentary of his three-month trek from Scotland to South
Africa upends many past portrayals of Africa.

"We are bombarded with two things, images of famine and
wildlife, and we (McGregor and Boorman) always felt that
there's a lot of other sides to that continent and I hope that
we showed that," he told Reuters.

Shot in 2007, "Long Way Down" is a follow-on to McGregor
and Boorman's 2004 journey from London eastward to New York. On
that trip, they passed through Europe, Asia and North America.
That trip was captured in the documentary "Long Way Round."

"Long Way Down" starts with McGregor and Boorman in England
gearing up for the trip by taking a survival course. One
instructor warns them to sleep with their heads in their tents
to avoid hyena bites. In a life-like training scenario, armed
kidnappers ambush the celebrities.

But McGregor said all the concern about dangers proved to
be overblown. "We didn't come across any trouble at all,
contrary to a lot of the advice we got," he said.